I recently found myself with some thawed leg quarters and no time to pull off my original plan (homemade pot pie). I thought about putting barbecue sauce on them, and then baking them, but I didn't want it to be too bland. I got on Recipezaar to view a few different Oven Baked Barbecue Chicken recipes, and then I created this:
I started by dicing half an onion and tossing it in a frying pan with a small amount of canola oil. While the onion was browning, I salted and peppered the chicken pieces and placed them in the pan to brown lightly on both sides.
I removed the chicken and placed it in a greased baking dish. I added about 1/2 c. of water to the pan to deglaze it (pull up all the little brown bits and onion that stuck to the bottom). To the liquid in the pan, I added about 1/2 a bottle of barbecue sauce and mixed thoroughly. Then, I poured the sauce over the chicken. (Hint for moms of picky eaters: I made one pan w/ barbecue sauce and one without)
I baked the chicken uncovered at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes. Believe it or not, those few extra steps in cooking made a huge difference in flavor. This was excellent, and my kids have been asking for it again. I'm sure you'll see it pop up on next week's menu.
In the spirit of flexible cooking, here are a few suggestions: You could use this same recipe to oven barbecue any meat or even tofu. If you have an abundance of tomato sauce or ketchup, but no barbecue sauce, google a recipe and make your own. No onion? How about some Garlic. That would give it a different, but excellent flavor. Ooh, or same cooking technique, but use garlic and a can of Italian style tomatoes instead of barbecue sauce. Oven Baked Chicken Cacciatore, anyone?